


The Price of Blood

by caimanriseup



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Blood, Bloodbending, Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, God Tier, Mild Gore, Violence, evil!Karkat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 05:41:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimanriseup/pseuds/caimanriseup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is KARKAT VANTAS.  You always knew you were a freak, something to be avoided.   But you had no idea of the monster you could become.</p><p>An AU where Karkat reaches god tier, but faces the unintended and dire consequences of his new powers, based on the fabulous shubbabang's evil Karkat blood-bending god tier AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for the idea goes to shubbabang on tumblr. I tried to do a sorta IC descent into madness take on the whole idea, YMMV on how good that ended up.

The first time you awoke on Prospit was not the pleasant experience the others who had awoken had described. You couldn’t take in anything, besides how bright everything was, the clouds, the buildings, the pain in your gut.

Oh God, there was so much blood. You pressed your hands to your body, trying to hide the bright, candy-apple red that flowed free. That may have been worse than the pain you were feeling. You couldn’t let the others see, not when they had just come to respect you. Not when you’d just gotten Terezi to….

There was a brilliant flash and then beautiful release. You arose better, stronger than you could have ever imagined. But yet, something was wrong. Despite you knightly garb, you still felt exposed, naked as a newborn grub amongst the others. Nobody made any mention of your mutation, but they all had to have known. You swore you could hear them whispering about you, giving you a quick glance when they were sure you weren’t looking.

It didn’t help that every moment now you could hear the soft shwoosh of blood flowing through your companions veins. Actually, hearing wasn’t the right word. You felt it, were it. You found no escape. Not in the absolution chamber, not on your husktop, nowhere. Not even sleep offered comfort. Without a dreamself, you were left alone in the darkness, where creatures on the edge of your perception whispered to you, clinging to you even while you were awake.

But you held it together. You had to. Someone had to lead your horribly dysfunctional group through this hell pit of a game. With two god tier players on a team, enemies fell left and right. Vriska took to her new ascension as if it were her birthright. You had never much cared for her, but the way she flitted around from place to place with the wings you lacked, going on about her irons and luck. Hate was easy, comfortable. It was a wonderful cover for your frayed nerves.

You had been in such rush to end the game you hadn’t supported Kanaya’s efforts gathering frogs. It seemed so irrelevant to the final battle. Indeed the fight against the Black King had taken all your combined strength. Gamzee and Vriska had taken the brunt of the work. Your god tier meant nothing. You might as well have not had your knightly garb. Actually, that would have been preferable. 

Then everything had fallen apart. Your prize, just inches from your fingertips, had been snatched away. In a flash you were tossed away from certain death, left to rot on a meteor You were weren’t sure it was a mercy or not. You were so close to being done. It was unfair, cruel. You were angry.

So very, very angry.

Sometimes you just wanted to lash out at everyone, their voices clawing at your patience, the thrum of blood making you grind your teeth. You hung on, for their sake. You were still the leader, whether you liked it or not.

You managed to find a momentary distraction with your new creation; you supposed you’d call them. The humans were fascinating and you urged the others to troll them, keep them occupied as well. The humans, John in particular, were so simple. Then you found out the humans were freaks, just as you were, with their bright red blood screaming your failure to the universe. You immediately shut down and told the others to do the same. 

Deep down you know things were going to fall, though you tried to tell yourself that you could keep things together. But everything broke. Stupid, fucking Eridan, he’d always been trouble, but you never thought he was willing to commit treason against the group. He had the nerve to try and recruit Feferi to leave after coming to you, begging for help unraveling his emotional problems? Did he think Karkat was a fool? And to suggest they ally themselves with the one had betrayed them, killed Karkat and cursed him with the form he lived in now.

The next thing you knew Eridan was raising that idiotic wand at your friend Sollux and you rushed forward, swinging your scythe down. You sliced through wood and flesh as easy as paper, leaving Eridan clutching a battered stump of a hand. He cried out, shaking. “W-wwhat the fuck, Kar?” His trembling only exasperated his already wavy accent.

“Me? What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You’re really going to turn your back on all of us to work with Jack Noir?”

“Wwhat else are wwe supposed to do?” He sobbed. You barely registered the other trolls’ eyes on you. Everything was fire and noise and the pan-numbing gush of Eridan’s blood. That’s when you finally awoke.

Your limbs moved on your own, your arms moving as if you were pulling an invisible thread. There was a mutual gasp of horror as Eridan’s blood floated free. Someone shouted your name while you stood there, frozen in mute horror. Eridan took your motionless state as a chance to charge forward, his final charge. You whipped the blood forward with such velocity you tore right through the blubbering sea troll. 

You screamed and screamed, only broken by retches. What had you become? More terrifying, why did you, deep down, like seeing Eridan broken and torn in front of you?

From that moment on you had sealed your status as a pariah. Nobody would approach you, not even your friends. This worked on some level for you. How could you ever explain yourself? You had no idea how to activate the power again and weren’t sure you wanted to, even if you had most likely saved everyone else on the meteor. Feferi refused to even look at you. 

At least you were pretty sure you were alone. Sometimes you could swear you could hear voices whispering to you. Sometimes you thought you could see shadows out of the corner of your eyes, though you were sure it was just your imagination. All that time alone in the dark couldn’t be good for your nerves.

Sometimes you would cry out in frustration. Was this meant to be a god: malformed, shrunken wings, a power you couldn’t control that drove everyone away from you? Couldn’t be like Vriska at all.

Speaking of, you stumbled upon on laughing at her husktop sometime in your lonely walking. She sat against the wall, on her husktop. She was happy. In fact, you couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen her that happy. There had to be something up. “What are you laughing at, Vriska?”

“None of your business,” she said, not lifting her eyes from her computer. You wrenched her husktop away, just getting enough time to see the John’s handle before she pulled it back.

You turned on her, already feeling a ringing in your ears. “What are you doing? I told you to not troll the humans anymore!”

“They maybe our only chance off this meteor. Besides, they’re so interesting. I don’t know why you stopped talking to John. Did he rejeeeeeeeect your romantic intentions?” she drew out all the vowels like a blade from a wound. You hated that, hated her grating voice more than anyone else. You pulled your hand close to your chest, twisting your hands around fabric that wasn’t there. 

Vriska jumped up from her seat on the ground, feet dragging on the ground. She struggled to say something, but you clenched your other hand into a fist, cutting her off. You hissed, “Don’t talk to John or any of the other humans, got it?”

You let her drop to the ground and turned away, not even looking back as you left her gasping. You didn’t know what became of the humans. Maybe they won, claimed the reward that was stolen from you. You doubted it, but the idea gave you some comfort.

As you made your way through the seemingly endless hallways of the meteor complex, Aradia floated towards you. You’d never say it, but you were honestly pretty creeped out by Aradia. First, she was a ghost. Now she was a cold-voiced robot, who’s popping through time always set you on edge. You were almost past her when she said, “You should enjoy yourself while you can.”

“What?”

“I just figured I would tell you to enjoy yourself as best as you can. It doesn’t really matter what you do anyway.”

“I don’t understand. Could you speak plain Alternian?”

She gave a heavy sigh and explained in a slow voice like she was talking to a grub, “This timeline is doomed.”

“Doomed?”

“That’s right. It always is when you go god tier.”

“So all this…it means nothing?”

“That is correct.”

You rubbed your forehead, head aching. This can’t be right. You wouldn’t allow it, all this suffering for nothing. “You have to fix it.”

“Fix it?”

“Stop this from happening! You can’t just let this happen.”

“I can’t change the timelines; I merely travel them, not unlike you.”

“No, no, no!” You have to stop this. Had to save yourself, your friends, this existence! Anger burned through you. 

You stepped back. Laughter filling your ears. You blinked, trying to clear your vision. Dancing in front of you were a million Aradiabots, broken, aged with eons of rust. All at once they said, “It’s over.”

The next thing you knew Aradia was gone. All that was left was a spray of blue blood and bits of metal.

You fell back, clutching at your chest. What the fuck? You’d been standing here talking and now…okay, breathe. She easily could have fought you and won. She must have wanted this. Hell, where was the proof you’d even done anything. 

You had no idea how you were going to tell Sollux though. Maybe, maybe you shouldn’t? Yes, that would be the kinder thing. He would already have to deal with Aradia’s death twice; no need to force him to deal with the fact his best friend had been the one to maybe accidentally blow her up.

You were the leader. Sometimes the leader has to make choices that don’t seem the most morally sound for the good of everyone else.

You barely had the chance to clean yourself up, using a flick of your wrists to send the blood flying, when you were confronted by Kanaya, Feferi, and Sollux. You were getting better at this, though you didn’t really understand how. 

Kanaya was the first to speak, “Karkat, may we have a word?”

“Look is this about my freaky powers? You know I never meant to hurt Eridan, it just sort of…happened.” You didn’t look at Feferi. 

Kanaya walked over, placed a hand on your shoulder. “Of course we know that. But still, it’s a bit concerning. We do not want anyone to get hurt on accident.”

You thought about Aradia and jumped back. “It’s fine! Everything is fine!”

Sollux said, “Look at yourself, KK. You’re a fucking mess.”

“You’re one to talk!”

“Yeah, I am. That’s how I know you need a break.”

“Karkat, I know Eridan had it coming,” Feferi said quietly. “We know you’d never do it on porpoise, but still…”

“And what the fuck do you want me to do? You want me to fucking cut my limbs off? Would that help you all sleep better in your piles?”

Kanaya forced a smile. “Nothing that drastic, my dear. However, I do think a rest in a pile would do you some good. Please, we can take care of things for awhile.”

You narrowed your eyes at them. You weren’t a grub. You didn’t need anyone telling you what to do. And what if Jack came back and you had left everyone defenseless. Who could you count on to fight? Vriska? Gamzee? Yeah, right.”

“Seriously, guys. Stop it. I’m fine.”

Kanaya tightened her grip on your shoulder. You swatted it away, though your hand never touched her. You held her tightly. You never meant to hurt her. You’d never want to hurt Kanaya. The others didn’t seem to realize this. Your body burned as if needles pierced your body all over. Sollux had unleashed his psionic powers on you, locking you in place. Blood oozed from your nose, your shame, your mutation open for everyone to see. 

You tried to cover your face, hearing gasps, mumbled insults. No, you weren’t some freak to be mocked. You wouldn’t look up at them; let them look down on you with shame and disgust. With a roar of rage you lashed out Sollux, crushing the air out of his lungs. He gasped, choking on his own fluids while Feferi charged you, trident flashing. It was easy to turn her weapon against herself, her tyrian blood just as easy to spill as the lowest rustblood. 

All that was left was Kanaya. Darling Kanaya, who had been released in the scuffle and was currently reaching for her sylladex and her chainsaw. Even held in the hold of panic and anger, you were able to give her a quick passing, twisting her neck quick and fast. 

You stood there, unable to gather a coherent thought as the blood spilled and blended. You sat down, watching royal blood mix with bile colored blood. It was almost beautiful. You were starting to get Gamzee going on about all those beautiful colors.

In a brief moment of clarity, you ran into the bowels of the facility. Wait, what was wrong with you? Maybe you’d finally snapped. Of course you snapped. How else could you have murdered your friends?

An insidious voice whispered in your mind, one that had been prodding at you since you unlocked your powers. No, wait, defended yourself. They had come after you. They had seen your mutation. Who would have stood by and allowed your disgusting self to live. You didn’t want to hurt, to kill, but you weren’t going to face the abyss of death without a fight.

You weren’t sure how long you stayed down in the darkness. Days, sweeps? You couldn’t be sure. All the time you could hear voices, see flashes of your dead friends. Anytime you tried to escape, find the others your way would be blocked by the specters of your friends, chanting, “Red, red, red”. And all the while, the meteor thuwmp-thwuped, the very rock alive. 

Sweat drenched from a daymare (at least you thought it might be, you weren’t sure what was real or not); you sat up and managed to launch your husktop from your sylladex. You’d completely forgotten about it. It beeped ceaselessly at you. Desperate for a bit of normalcy, you opened it up to read your missed messages. Most were from Terezi, trying to track you down. You were about to turn it off. It was better if she didn’t see you like this, didn’t see your friends destroyed by your fear and madness. Then, you saw the last message, one from Gamzee. Your eyes danced over the words. You maybe tenuously holding on at best, but Gamzee was completely gone. 

Forcing your long unused limbs into action, you ran up stairs and through corridors. You had to track down Terezi, make sure she was safe. Yes, yes Terezi was your key, your salvation. She was smart and knew how to solve any problem. She’d figure you out. She’d know how to keep you from flying into blind rages and kill anyone else. 

You could only assume the hand of providence had guided you the right way, because you found Terezi. As soon as you shouted her name she ran at you, throwing her arms around you. You held her close, savoring the company of someone living. She buried her face into your shoulder. “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought you…what’s she doing here?” you asked, seeing Vriska standing off to the side.

Terezi pulled away. “She’s the reason I’m still alive. Gamzee would have killed me if she hadn’t saved me. We’ve been trying to find everyone else, but we hadn’t heard back in so long we figured you were all dead.”

Vriska was not so happy to see you. “Where have you been, Karkat? We sure could have used your help while Gamzee was murdering everyone else.”

You noted her brown-stained clothing. “What about you? Where’s Tavros?”

Vriska looked away. Terezi answered, “She will be dealt with, but court is on recess until we capture that clown.”

You shoved past Terezi. “You murdered Tavros?” You were not completely unaware of the irony in this statement. But you had been defending yourself! Vriska had been nothing but a cold bitch from the start. She probably enjoyed every second of it.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen, all right! I’m sorry,” she said. Was she fighting back tears? It had to be some sort of rouse to soften your defenses. The next thing you knew, you had Vriska doubled over in pain.

Terezi ran over. “Karkat, what the fuck are you doing?”

“What the fuck were you doing? You never bothered to even come look for me! Too busy running around with this psycho bitch!”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you anymore. Besides, it’s not like you came looking for me either.”

Vriska slowly uncurled herself, grunting. “Can we focus on the problem at hand?”

You’d had about enough with her. Taking Tavros’ blood off her body, you lifted it up, letting it dance in the air. You flung it at her, a dark grin on your face at the thought of skewering her. You had not planned for Terezi to shove Vriska out of the way and take the brunt of the attack. There was a spray of teal as Terezi collapsed. Your world screeched to the halt, your breath caught in your throat. 

Then everything started screeching and turning a searing hot red. You could barely even see as you screamed at Vriska, “This is all your fault!”

She sighed, almost sadly, “You were the one person I never thought I’d have to fight.” There was the rattle of dice and a bright flash of light. She stood before you, dressed like a pirate right out of one of your cheesy romance novels.  
She was fast, too fast. You were barely able to see her fly forward. You raised your hands instinctively, Vriska’s blade slicing into your wrists. Your blood dripped down, the color of burning iron, wrapped around your wrists, marking you as a traitor. You were trapped, always trapped by your blood.

Vriska paused. “So, it is true.” That moment was all you needed to figure out her demise. You took control of her hand that held the dice. She shouted as you forced her to throw the dice. Ones stared back up at you, like accusing eyes. Vriska ignored it, swinging down again. Her shot went wide, giving you the time to shoot your blood straight through her. You had a moment to admire the gaping hole right before she fell. She did not rise again.

Funny, you would have never guessed Vriska to die a hero.

A strained gasp from Terezi drew you away from your victory. How could you have forgotten her? You dashed to her side, not even bothering to seal up your wounds. She had been pierced over and over. Stupid idiot, why did she have to run in front of Vriska. But you could still fix this. You could make one thing right.

“K-karkat?” she strained to get out.

“I’m here, don’t worry. I’m going to save you. Just hold still.” You felt sick. Blue and red melted together, screaming ringing in your ears. But you’d push through

She shifted her hand. You thought she was reaching for yours, but instead she pulled her sword free. She lashed out at you, but missed you by a wide margin. With a shudder, she died before you could stop the bleeding.

“Damn, that was motherfuckin harsh,” came the familiar drawl of Gamzee behind you.

You got up, hardly believing what you were seeing. Gamzee’s cheerful face was twisted in a cruel parody of what it had used to be. The skin on his face had been opened in long slash marks, still raw. You wished you could blame it all on hallucinations and visions, but it was painfully real. On his head rested Nepeta’s hat and Equius’ glasses. You supposed that answered the question of where those two were. He held a club in hand. “It’s been a long time, brother.”

You didn’t say anything. What did you have to say? All you could do now was take Gamzee down. The leader had to go down with the ship. It was the right thing to do, the only thing left to do.

He walked over casually, his long limbs moving surprisingly smooth. He laughed and practically screamed, “SO YOU’RE FINALLY LETTING THOSE BLASPHEMIES FLOW FREE MUTANTBLOOD.”

You grit your teeth. Those “blasphemies” were going to rend Gamzee to pieces. You were already letting it fly out, slashing into his skin. And yet he kept coming, as if pain meant nothing. “Look at you. You’re fuckin pathetic. You think you know the first thing about rage?”

You tried to take control of, turn his hand against himself. But your powers failed. You scrambled around for a way out, but all the ways had been closed. “Why isn’t anything working?”

“Because motherfucker, YOU CAN’T KILL A MOTHERFUCKING CLOWN.”

He raised his club. You only had for one final cry before everything went black.


End file.
